Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §20.20

Definition of Motion by Categories and Motion in Relation

Passage 8 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Theophrastus defines motion as the activity or entelechy of the potential according to the categories in the second and third books of *On Motion*, and distinguishes whether there is motion in the category of relation.

§20.20Fr. 20 Ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν περὶ Κινήσεως· οἰκειότερον δὲ ὅπερ καὶ λέγομεν καὶ ἔστιν, ἐνέργειαν τοῦ δυνάμει κινητοῦ ᾗ κινητὸν κατὰ γένος ἕκαστον τῶν κατηγοριῶν, οἷον οὐσίας, ποσοῦ, ποιοῦ, φορητοῦ, τῶν ἄλλων· οὕτω γὰρ ἀλλοίωσις, αὔξησις, φορὰ, γένεσις καὶ αἱ ἐναντίαι ταύταις.
Fr. 20 In the second book of *On Motion*: "But more appropriate is that which we both say and is the case: the activity of the potentially movable, insofar as it is movable, according to each genus of the categories, such as substance, quantity, quality, the movable, and the others." For in this way there are alteration, growth, locomotion, generation, and the opposites of these.
Ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ δὲ, οἶμαι, σαφέστερον ταῦτα γέγραφεν· ἐν μὲν τῷ ἀφορισμῷ τῆς κινήσεως τοσαῦτα φαμὲν αὐτῆς εἴδη ὅσαι κατηγορίαι· τὴν γὰρ τοῦ δυνάμει ὄντος ᾗ τοιοῦτον ἐντελέχειαν κίνησιν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ βιβλίῳ φησί· Τοῦ δὲ πρός τι κίνησις τοῦ μὲν κατὰ λόγον οὐκ ἔστι, τοῦ δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν ἔστιν· ἡ γὰρ ἐνέργεια κίνησίς τε καὶ καθʼ αὑτό.
But in the third book, I think, he has written these things more clearly: "On the one hand, in the definition of motion, we say that there are as many species of it as there are categories; for the entelechy of that which exists potentially, insofar as it is such, is motion." And he also says this in the same book: "Of the relative, on the one hand, regarding that which is according to ratio, there is no motion, but on the other hand, regarding that which is according to potentiality, there is; for the activity is both a motion and in itself."

Notes

  1. 20.20ἐνέργειαν — Accusative. Although there is no verb in the main clause, it functions as part of an accusative-and-infinitive construction (with εἶναι omitted) continuing from the previous context (such as φησί or γράφων), or as the object of an implied infinitive of defining. It means '[that motion is] the activity...'
  2. 20.20φορητοῦ — Genitive singular of the neuter adjective φορητόν (movable, capable of being carried). Here, it is listed alongside substance (οὐσία), quantity (ποσόν), and quality (ποιόν) to represent the category of place (πού) or locomotion (φορά).
  3. 20.20Τοῦ δὲ πρός τι κίνησις τοῦ μὲν κατὰ λόγον οὐκ ἔστι, τοῦ δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν ἔστιν — The genitive of the relative (Τοῦ δὲ πρός τι) governs the partitive genitives (τοῦ μὲν... τοῦ δὲ...). The structure means: 'Of the relative, regarding on the one hand that which is according to ratio, there is no motion, but regarding on the other hand that which is according to potentiality, there is.'

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §20.20. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:20.20

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